Husband of Harper Lee’s headline-making attorney dies in plane crash

Patrick Carter, the husband of Harper Lee's high-profile attorney, Tonja Carter, died in a plane crash Wednesday. Carter, 52, was flying a vintage biplane that crashed on takeoff in Missoula, Mont.

The Missoulian reports that Carter was a commercial pilot who retired after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was flying a World War II-era Bucker Jungmeister BU 133. Witnesses said it made a sharp turn after takeoff, hit the ground, and then burst into flames about 20 seconds later.

The Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Maloney posted the news on Twitter with a picture of the crash.

He was returning to Monroevilla, Ala., from Washington state when he stopped in Montana.

Tonja Carter made headlines early this year when she announced the discovery of an unpublished manuscript by Lee called "Go Set a Watchman." The novel was published in July, 50 years after Lee's first book, the classic "To Kill a Mockingbird, was published. Carter closely controlled access to the octogenarian Lee during the publicity surrounding her second book.

Patrick and Tonja married in 1990. His father, Jennings Faulk Carter, was a cousin of Truman Capote and grew up next door to the Lees in Monroeville.

Twitter: @paperhaus